


Puzzling Out Love: How To Find the Missing Piece

by Paycheckgurl



Category: Mystery Science Theater 3000
Genre: Bisexual Character, Canon Backstory, Demisexual Character, Drinking, F/M, First Dates, First Time, Fluff and Angst, Groping, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, M/M, Making Out, Minor Character Death, Past Relationship(s), Post-Season/Series 10, Pre-Series, Present Tense, Recreational Drug Use, minor character death is canon, robot dads, some non canon backstory, the 70s, the 80s
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-01
Updated: 2017-10-01
Packaged: 2019-01-07 16:52:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12236883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Paycheckgurl/pseuds/Paycheckgurl
Summary: Joel and Mike puzzle out the mysteries of love throughout their lives. And then they find each other.





	Puzzling Out Love: How To Find the Missing Piece

Mike’s first girlfriend is Mandy Yates. Mandy gives him an extra brownie at lunch in the fifth grade and it's love at first sight. They agree to go steady at recess. During the afternoon math lesson, she breaks his heart by sitting just a little too close to Bobby Williamson and starting a rousing game of footsie. Mike’s father always said men don’t cry, so it’s just his allergies okay? That’s a thing people get that makes them cry and isn’t really crying, Mrs. Harris said so! But it’s enough to want to give up on love forever (forever meaning until junior high).

* * *

 Joel goes through junior High without being attracted to anyone. His classmates are all preoccupied with hand holding under the bleachers when they go to the high school football games like the big kids, but he’d rather stay in and experiment with gizmos and whazzits in his parents’ garage. The kids at is school regard him as being a bit weird, unsure of what to make of him. He’s an A student with a healthy interest in learning all sorts of trivia outside of the classroom, but he never really pays attention to anything in class. He’s constantly doing things in an unorthodox manner, and is really passionate about things they don’t care about. Already at age 12 he comes across as being a bit like a children’s tv host, which kind of turns away the “cool” crowd who are trying to assert they’re too mature for stuff like the local Bozo the clown knock off. He’s cool with being weird though, wearing it like a badge of honor, and he’s not really interested in the junior high dating scene anyways. He failed to notice that Midge Larson couldn’t form a coherent sentence around him for three solid years, and only turned that interesting shade of pink when he was showing off his inventions.

* * *

 There’s not much to do for a high school kid in the late 70s and early 80s in rural Wisconsin other than  sex, drugs, and rock and roll, so that’s exactly what Mike starts partaking in. He parties, he drinks, he learns every instrument he can in hopes of picking up chicks. It works on the chicks, sort of, but only when he’s too drunk or too high to stop overthinking the whole flirting thing and doesn’t make an ass of himself with how awkward he is. And one drunken night it also works on Johnny Andersen. Mike’s brother Eddie is always making jokes about sissy boys that like other boys. His father reacts to idea with disgust whenever it somehow comes up. His mother abruptly changes the subject. And maybe that has something to do with the fact Mike has never considered himself gay before-but then he thinks he really isn’t. Because he does like girls. They have breasts and stuff and they’re pretty and he feels like melting whenever one laughs at him. But he likes Johnny too, that much is clear from the way he moans in his mouth and the kiss feels so right, and when the groping starts, it’s over and Johnny now has complete and total control over his body’s wants and needs. The morning after Johnny never speaks to him again, and avoids him at all costs, leading Mike to believe he may not be the only one with some things he needs to puzzle out.

* * *

 In high school Joel meets sweet Mary Jane. As in a person who is his cousin’s girlfriend, not the slang for marijuana. She just so happened to be the person that introduces him to weed by coincidence. But really it’s the 70s and all the kids are doing it. He’s still regarded as being quirky and weird, but quirky and weird is cool right now. Its rebellious and everyone is rebel looking to stick it to the man. They all want to expand their horizons and let that sweet free love flow. Except now even in high school, Joel isn’t really doing that. He doesn’t know if he even can do that.

* * *

 Maybe, despite how right Johnny felt that one night, It was just a one off experiment after all. Because Carla is wonderful. The way she laughs at him, and playfully messes with his long hair. The way she teases him and makes him feel at ease. The sex. Good god almighty, the sex. She’s his everything. An assertion which lasts until they have a stupid fight two weeks before she goes off to her dream college and they decide to break things off. A few years later he gets a birth announcement from her in the mail, followed shortly by a wedding invitation.

* * *

 They say you’re supposed to experiment in college, but Tommy Lightfoot doesn’t feel like an experiment. He feels like the single most right thing Joel has ever experienced. He goes through the first year a lot like how he went through the rest of school, completely uninterested in romance and all that jazz. But then he becomes friends with Tommy. Tommy is smart, and funny, someone Joel feels oddly at ease being open with about his thoughts. Something he’s never really been able to say about anyone, preferring to bottle some things up and play it off as a part of being the quirky chill guy everyone saw him as. But at a certain point he realizes he loves Tommy on an emotional level, and finally, finally, that’s when things kick into attraction mode, and every fiber of Joel’s being just wants to be with him. To his surprise, he reciprocates. They date for three years until Tommy gets into a film studies masters program. Even with potential scholarship money for engineering school, Joel can never in a million years afford a second degree at this point in his life, and following Tommy across the country to LA is out of the question. But they try the long distance thing. It lasts maybe a month before he gets the “Dear John” letter. But while Tommy may have broken his heart in the end, but Joel still thinks about him constantly. And he really does like his name.

* * *

 Mike doesn’t go to college. He goes to a vocational school he refers to as college in order to sound smarter when someone asks. And he drops out.  But he’s still desperate to get away and he doesn’t want to work on a cheese farm. So he gets a job at a cheese factory. Yeah, that will show them. Mike Nelson is making it big in the world. So big that he’s still frying his brain cells on whatever will do the trick-but Sex Factory, man. His band Sex Factory will be his ticket to the big time. Ginger is the ultimate groupie and she cheers him on and supports him not matter what. No matter how much of a dunderhead he is. No matter what nonsense his drugged out mind starts rambling about, robot from the future included.

She cheats on him. The worst part is he wishes he could have been the one to break it off because he needs someone that can tell him no from time to time.

* * *

 After college and the sting of the break up, love is once again not really on Joel’s mind. Instead he puts his energy into the job at the Gizmonic Institute as a janitor. It may not be the most glamorous job title in the world, but Gizmonics only hires the brightest for even menial labor, and his creativity is encouraged there. If his bosses like him they promote from within and he does a good cleaning up the place. Of course he’d later find out his bosses didn’t like him. They shot him into space.

* * *

 Steve is not actually a werewolf and doesn’t actually die. But Mike does totally date a guy named Steve. He is really hairy though. But he’s a good kisser, and honestly the hair is probably more a plus because it's like having a space heater on those cold Midwestern nights. It’s Steve who Mike is finally honest enough with to admit that he really doesn’t know what his sexuality is. That despite really, really liking Steve, he’s really, really liked (even loved) his past girlfriends. Its Steve who just kind of looks him straight in the eyes, and asks Mike if he's considered that he's bisexual before. And to be honest, no, he hadn’t. But it works, it makes sense with what he knows about himself, and having a label for it, knowing there are other people out there who use that label, it feels really nice. He and Steve kind of drift apart, but the guy leaves an impact on him, if only for helping him figure it all out.

* * *

 Joel does find love aboard the SOL. Familial love. When he first build Gypsum her purpose was to be utilitarian. To monitor life support on the ship, and alert him to any potential problems. Beeper is a small experiment in very primitive AI that can’t really be considered more than a toy. But Crow, and Beeper’s successor Tom Servo, are the result of crushing loneliness giving way to desperation for companionship, any companionship. It’s night after night after night of no sleep and coffee. It’s seat of his pants coding and just doing something in hope it works. He wants friends, or at least machines that could better stand in for them. Instead the strings of learning Linxus systems give way to something more than friends; they give way to his children. He updates Gypsum to be a real, bonafide, self thinking machine, who has her own wants and needs and likes. When he builds Cambot he installs the same learning code. And suddenly he’s a father of four and he’ll do anything for his children. Up to and including sending dark spectors flying back into the vacuum of space where the scum belong.

* * *

 Denise is going to be the girl that Mike marries. She’s perfect. She’s silly. She supports him, but she’s not afraid to tell him when she’s worried about him. He doesn’t feel dumb around her or like he has to hide any part of himself. She totally gets the bisexual thing “you’re dating pool is twice the size of other guys and you still chose me”, and she’s got a hidden kinky streak a mile wide. Several months into their relationship she gets into a nursing program in Minneapolis. Its really not _that_ long of a long distance relation. But Denise is an old school romantic and insists on sending love letters anyway. One of her classmates is the first to catch the late warning sign when she collapses suddenly. It’s leikuma. Advanced stages. Chemo may or may not make a difference at this point. He goes to the hospital to see her on the weekends. She keeps writing letters. Until she dies just six months later. He holds onto the letters whenever he can. First to hold onto Denise. Then to more generally remind himself not to let him lose sight of the people of he loves when he still has them.

* * *

 To say that Joel’s departure from the satellite is unplanned is the understatement of the millennium. He tries to play it cool for the bots and leaves them with some parting words. Because really that’s all he can do. His craft lands in the middle of a barren desert and its four hours before some guy in a jeep finds him and tells him he’s in Australia. Joel offers to pay him for a ride somewhere, before the pesky fact that he has no money or no anything beside the remnants of his escape pod, a small folded polaroid picture in his pocket,  and the beat up jumpsuit on his back catches up with him. He has...pretty much nothing. The guy is nice though, and offers him a place to stay with his buddies. They offer him clothes and a phone to call the US embassy so he can figure out that whole lack of identification thing. Surprisingly he isn’t immediately deported back to Minnesota, but they grant him all the papers he asks for, and a work visa to stay and plop around the country for a bit. Apparently the US embassy guys had some Mystery Science Theater tapes circulated to them, and they want his autograph.

Upon learning that Joel’s apparently a mechanical whizz and kind of sort of has a show bizz background thanks to the experiment tapings, his host offers to hook him up with some buds in need of someone that can rig pyrotechnics for their shows. And so he starts working for the band. His social circle has been so limited for so long that he really doesn’t know how to handle interacting with everyone, and once again he feels like a junior high student his peers just didn’t “get”. But he makes due and makes money until having enough that he can maybe afford to establish himself doing something else, and raise enough for his ten year goal.

Through all of this there’s one constant. A small picture of himself and the bots he keeps safely folded in his pockets at all times.  

* * *

 Being stuck in space is kind of a dry spell for Mike’s love life. Except for when it isn’t. Every now and then a strange visitor will dock on Rocket #9, they’ll have some adventures in space and time and the opportunity will arise, or he’ll just make doubly sure the showers are free of Servo and Crow’s pranks, and take care of the problem himself with the power of perverted thinking. He fails amazingly at flirting with Flavia (look it had been a while, okay?). He totally could have scored with Nuveena if it weren’t for the fact that he absolutely refuses to get with anyone that mistreats the bots. They’re his family now, and no one messes with his family. Still there’s the surly space truck driver who stops by, and he is a darned good kisser.

He doesn’t give much thought to Joel Robinson. Or at least tells himself he doesn’t. The bots, reading between the lines, see Joel as their father, he knows that much at least. The man is handy (he built most of the gadgets on the ship, to say nothing of the bots themselves). He knows he left a bunch of stuff, including the tube socks Mike wears. But, deep down, Mike is really intrigued by the guy. He isn’t really sure why he doesn’t want to admit that aloud though.

* * *

 There are certain things Joel is absolutely not going to tell the bots right now. The big one being that his ship might blow up upon reentry and taking all them back would potentially be signing their death certificates, and that no matter what he may die on the way back down. He’s happy to see them, he’s happy Mike has taken such good care of them, but he has to leave them. There’s no other way.

Once he finishes the repairs he tries being just a little bit of a jerk. It doesn’t really work so he gives them all a line about becoming a man instead. That kind of does, and he can’t help but notice how earnest and sincere Mike looks throughout their little interactions. The thought that they're all happy and alive is enough to keep him from breaking down on the way back to Earth as he clutches his little polaroid. And almost enough to keep from breaking down when he realizes he doesn’t burn up in the atmosphere. He could have brought them all to Earth after all.

* * *

 Mike feels awkward and out of place when the bots reconnect with Joel again. He’s at the Hot Fish Shop as the four pretty much tackle their creator to the ground with the force of their latest reunion hugs. He (crash) landed Earth not a day ago, and is still trying to figure out where he’s going to live and what he’s going to do. In the meantime, Gypsum has her sights on making it in the big city once this little reunion is over, and he has a realtor to call, and a temp office to drop his name in with. He can get around the gap on his resume by referring to it as being a part of a media experiment and as being a television host, right? Maybe? He doesn’t know, just that in the meantime he isn’t in on this hugfest.

Joel shoots him that sleepy smile, and offers them all to stay in his apartment while Mike searches for his own over the next few days. Mike feels his cheeks burn bright red. Huh. Why is that?  

* * *

 “Shared custody” is a good descriptor of Joel’s time with the bots right now. They go between too small apartment and too small apartment every week. The bots are curious as ever and Earth absolutely enthralls them in a state of permanent curiosity. Apparently they’re really fascinated by cows. A fact which seems to amuse Mike “I spent most of my life trying to get away from cows,” he tells them as he double checks that they have everything they need for the weekly house swap.

Mike is always sharing little details about his life without meaning to. Just little tidbits that Joel picks up on. It interests him. If Joel was closed off before, in his post satellite life he’s even moreso. But Mike is prone to over sharing little details, especially around him. In just three short months he’s learned Mike’s family history, his preference for white rice over brown (but he likes all rice), and listened to Mike’s (surprisingly in depth) analysis of Richard III (the guy can be a bit of  space cadet-no pun intended- but he clearly really enjoys a good book and has a healthy appreciation for theater). Between that and the fact they're coparents constantly swapping little warnings of “don't forget that Crow’s still punished after supergluing the oreos together the other day” and “don’t forget we may have to calm Servo down if he doesn't make that swing choir chair”, they're getting to know each other quite well. Or at least Joel is getting to know Mike. Maybe he should make more of an honest effort to let the younger man in.

* * *

 Mike really enjoys riffing bad movies, of his own choosing without being forced to, with Joel and the bots. He's fallen into a rhythm when Joel joins them, accounting for the man’s dry comedic timing, and switching into silly mode when the props and costumes come out. Joel is an enigma. Seemingly the most chill person Mike has ever met, but also able to swing into parent mode when the bots need him, and to be the silly wacky inventor guy. He still doesn't really get Joel, but he's fascinated by him, a bit awed maybe, and maybe, possibly, just a little bit attracted. Just a little.

* * *

Joel starts spending more and more time with Mike, inviting him over to the Hot Fish Shop even when it's not his day to take the bots. He notices more and more about Mike, the little shade of pink he turns when he's embarrassed. The sarcastic scoff he gives when he thinks someone is being completely ridiculous. They way he seems a bit off kilter the first time Servo jokingly refers to his “two dads.”

* * *

 

Mike really doesn't know what to think when Joel invites him out for a coffee without the bots. Mainly because he fully expects to find Joel’s poor apartment above the Hot Fish Shop in a state of complete disaster when they get back.

Over coffee they get to talking. Joel looks uncomfortable whenever the conversation starters go to the satellite, but he's clearly trying to talk more about himself than he usually does. Somehow Mike starts rambling about this one time Steve broke his dresser drawer, and that somehow leads into Mike's whole past romantic history. Joel gives that little half smile before admitting he's only dated one person before.

“Oh true love and no one can ever compare?”

Mike hopes not.

Joel looks at him, with those sleepy blue eyes.

“You know...not really but...I don't think I can be attracted to someone that I haven't built up an emotional connection to first. I can recognize when someone’s physically, conventionally attractive, but that doesn't do it for me if I don't know the person and what makes them tick.”

“Oh.” That's really all Mike can manage.

Joel looks thoughtful for a second.

“I haven't really been into anyone until...well recently anyways.”

Mike feels his stomach drop. “Oh. What are they like?”

“Cute, good ‘ole midwestern values type. Funny. Nice eyes. Great smile. Sitting right across from me.”

Joel goes in to kiss his cheek. Mike's still sputtering and trying to process what just happened and accidentally turns his head. Joel kisses his lip instead as a result and kind of bangs his head against Mike’s forehead. They laugh, and make up for it by going in for kiss number two.

* * *

Joel doesn't want to overwork their first official date. But at the same time he can't help but think he really doesn't want to screw this up. The bots don't really understand why he's leaving them with a babysitter and going out with Mike alone without them. But he doesn't want to tell them yet in case this goes wrong somehow. He tries to tell himself to just relax. It's Mike after all and he wouldn't be doing this if he didn't already trust the man completely. And then he sees Mike and gosh darn the guy really cleans up well. And heck if Joel’s heart is already fluttering.

They go out for Italian, a nicer restaurant but not so nice that they need to wear jackets or something or that pizza has been exiled to the kiddie menu. They talk about the kids, work, life and just laugh. Dinner is over before either of them are ready for it to be, and it's off to cliche first date convention number two: the movie.

They intentionally pick a snooty art house thing in hopes that no one else will be there, and they can do what they do best and mock it relentlessly. A few other couples (is that what they are too, a couple? Can they say that yet?) parade in and that hope is dashed. Without being able to riff it, the film is pretty painful. And all of the “artistic” filmography is only serving to highlight that it really has no story to tell and no characters worth the while. So they try the third first date cliche, and make out like teenagers in the back. When the gray haired couple catches them and they're able to quit each other long enough to notice, they simply laugh, leave, and continue what they started in Joel’s car. They don't go all the way, they begrudgingly, respect that first date tradition, but they're left wanting more. When they make it back to Joel’s shop he has a dazed silly smile that he doesn't think is going away anytime soon. The apartment being covered in an unidentifiable sticky substance, having to free the babysitter from being handcuffed to a chair, and listen as she immediately tells him “never again”, manage to wipe the smile off, as does the “talking to” he has to give the bots (he's getting the footage of whatever it was that took place from Cambot later so he can properly assign out punishment...assuming Cambot wasn't in on it and doesn't try to edit the footage), but the smile returns as he drifts off to sleep, thoughts of Mike filling his dreams.

* * *

Their first time is at Mike’s. They manage to make sure the bots are all in sleep mode, (actually, really truly asleep and not just faking it), and Mike leads Joel to the bed and the kissing starts, tender then soon desperate for more. Mike is aware that he's prone to blushing, but so is Joel and it's frankly adorable, and he’s going to try and make the man blush as much as possible. So he experiments trying to get little reactions of the man, the little noises he make and smile of pleasure he gives egging him on just as much as the adorable little blush. Eventually the swap positions and Joel takes control. It’s been a while for both of them and they don’t expect this to be perfect, but Joel takes his time and keeps checking to make sure Mike likes each step of the way and just oh god yes, yes, yes there. Afterwards they fall asleep in a tangle of limps. It’s blissful. Until the bots are banging at the door the next morning and they have to make up some lame lie about Joel’s car not starting last night to explain why he didn’t go home last night. And Mike is really sore. Worth it though, and maybe next time he can work up the courage to tell Joel about the secret stash of "special" supplies he has hidden in the closet.

* * *

Joel really loves Thanksgiving. But this Turkey Day he’s just a bit nervous. He and Mike are announcing their relationship to the bots. Gypsum flew over from New York meaning they have the whole family there. He’s got a whole little speech prepared, and begins talking about family, togetherness, and what they all mean to him. The speech might be a little rambly in the middle, but that doesn’t change the fact he’s kind of annoyed when all four bots look like their patience is running out a bit at the third “and I love you all”. Maybe he should have done this after dinner instead of before when they all had food in front of them. Even Mike’s patience is running thin by the look on his face-hey mister this involves you. Joel isn’t ready when Mike swoops in and cuts his next sentence short with a kiss.

“We’re dating now, as he said repeatedly we love you guys and are so thankful you’re in our lives, and I think what he was trying to get at is this doesn’t change anything, please eat now.”

Tom and Crow take a minute to process before sputtering out a slew of questions at the same time relating to “when, where, how” while Gyps lets out a fangirl squeal.

* * *

The decision to move in together is more of a practical one than anything. Neither of their apartments is really set up for four, let alone five, and moving the bots between houses isn’t making sense when Joel and Mike are spending all of their time together. They can’t guarantee the boys their own rooms, but they can try, and Cambot isn’t particularly picky about sleeping quarter space, so they can set up a spot in the living room if need be. They can bring over Joel’s pull out couch for when Gypsum visits. A  yard would be nice. A work shed or basement workplace for Joel. A nice little reading nook for Mike. Somewhere a writing desk can go for Crow. Not that much walkway, it is Minnesota and and at first major snowfall they have to clear that mess. They’re sacrificing the convenience of Mike’s place being so close to public transit and Joel’s place being attached to work, so commutable is a must. And between what Joel spent on the spacecraft and Mike’s credit card debt they can’t really afford to buy just yet (they’re both too proud to ask Gypsum for loan), so this unicorn of a house has to be rented. But amazing they find something, and sure Servo’s room is actually a large walk in linen closet they convert. And there’s really not much space in the master for anything but the queen sized bed. That walkway is still just long enough to be really annoying to clear. But it's theirs.

Gypsum comes up for the house warming, and they all gather together and watch the worst B movie late night cable has to offer. Mike takes Joel into a cuddle and kisses his cheek. It’s been several years since Joel escaped the satellite, and year since Mike has. But now they are truly home.


End file.
